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England manager Gareth Southgate tested positive for coronavirus and suffered from symptoms of the virus last month, but did not tell his players because he did not want to cause a scandal.
The 50-year-old man was forced to self-isolate for 10 days after testing positive and eventually produced a negative result.
The isolation only prevented Southgate from attending some Premier League matches in late October and early November.
The England manager returned to action after a negative test in time to announce his current squad at a Zoom press conference on 5 November.
A source told the Sun: ‘He’s a professional, he just kept going. Fortunately, he is very fit for his age.
England returned to winning ways with Southgate on Friday when they defeated the Republic of Ireland 3-0 in a friendly at Wembley.
They are back in Nations League action in Belgium on Sunday before taking on Iceland on Wednesday, and the Three Lions will likely need to win both games for a chance to advance to the semi-finals.
Southgate knows Belgium will be a tough task on Sunday, but believes in his team, having beaten the Red Devils last month.
When asked how tall the Belgians will be, he said: ‘Well, I think we know: they have lost two games in 28, so they are a fantastic team and they have proven it over a long period of time.
But our goal is to be the best team in the world and we have to hunt down these teams.
“We were able to do it at Wembley. I think we saw the best that they are there, so we know that we had to do our best with and without the ball to achieve that result.
Tomorrow it will be the same, but we are not afraid. We have to go into the game with a very positive mindset.
‘We know we can hurt teams, we have players who can score goals and we know that we have conceded two in our last nine games, so we are a team that is improving.
We are a team that will improve in the coming years.
‘You know, when you look at the age of young people like Declan (Rice) and the team that was on the field the other night (against the Republic of Ireland): 19 years, 17 years, several 20, 21 years.
‘The future is so exciting. What we have to do is make sure we are getting results and making progress now as well. ‘
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